


Phytotherapy

by ellindsey



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: F/F, Post-Canon, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Trans Perfuma, adorably oblivious Scorpia, and also war crimes tribunals, pollution cleanup, therapy sessions
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24538219
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ellindsey/pseuds/ellindsey
Summary: Phytotherapy: the use of plants and plant-derived materials for healing. A post-finale story of cleaning up the mess left behind from decades of abuse and toxic behavior.
Relationships: Perfuma/Scorpia (She-Ra)
Comments: 14
Kudos: 64





	Phytotherapy

Scorpia’s eyes snapped open at the sound of a bird chirping.

The ceiling overhead was unfamiliar, purple fabric stretched over a framework of living branches. Soft light filtered in through windows. She smelled a pleasing mixture of flowers and incense. It was nothing like waking up in the Fright Zone at all. The bed was the strangest part of it - soft, comfortable, with hand-woven frilly blankets, a complete contrast to the rock-hard mattresses that Scorpia had grown up with. It was comfortable enough that one might be invited to stay in bed for a while longer.

Scorpia, of course, was not a sleeping-in type of person. Mornings were meant to be seized, to make the most of the day, no matter how comfortable the mattress. She flung off the flower-patterned blankets, and sat upright. “Good morning ... Plumeria!” she said, taking momentary stock of her surroundings.

Fresh fruit and water placed during the night, _check_ . Flowers sprouting from the branches overhead, _check_ . Letter from Perfuma signed with a heart, _check_ . Impressive selection of oils, soaps, and perfumes in the bathroom, _check_. “Wow, Perfuma just has the nicest guest rooms. Do all visitors get treated this way?” she mused, as she checked her appearance in a mirror. “This is the nicest ... what is this, a yurt?” she glanced around at the conical structure. “Yeah, that’s it. Yurt. This is the nicest yurt I’ve ever stayed in.”

She opened the door, and stepped outside into the gentle anarchy that was Plumeria. The sky was still rosy with the glow of dawn, rays of morning sunlight peeking between the thick tree branches. Tents and yurts of various styles sheltered beneath branches, along with pod-shaped treehouses in the larger trees. As the population of Plumeria was inclined towards slow, meditative mornings, not many people were outside, though Scorpia could see a few long-haired children chasing each other among the trees.

Her gaze drawn upward by the sound of cheerful chirping, Scorpia took a moment to watch birds hopping between branches. She still found wildlife a marvelous novelty, the closest thing in the Fright Zone had been the recycling robots that harvested metal from the scrapyards, and the occasional mutant rat in the sewers. “Man, this place is gorgeous. So glad we never managed to destroy it.” She felt a momentary pang of guilt, which she squashed ruthlessly. That was past Scorpia. Future Scorpia was going to be a better person.

The guest yurt was almost at the base of the gentle mound that the Heart-Blossom tree rose from, and Scorpia didn’t have far to go to find Perfuma. She quickly spotted the tall, blond woman she sought sitting cross-legged among the confusing tangle of roots. A faint pink glow surrounded her, pulsing in time with the similar glow coming from the giant pink gemstone embedded in the massive tree’s trunk. Scorpia was about to call a greeting, when she realized what was happening. “Oh, right! Meditation! Sorry!” she said softly, backing away. Perfuma showed no reaction other than a momentary smile flickering across her face.

Scorpia leaned against a massive sprawling root taller than she was, and looked up at the great glowing gem, still pulsing with light as Perfuma communed with it. “Huh. I wonder if I need to do that too?” Scorpia held up one claw, and summoned a small arc of electricity from it. “Nope. Cool lighting powers still seem to be working, and it’s been ages since I even saw the Black Garnet.”

“Meditation is about more than just recharging my powers.” A high voice called out to her from behind. “My morning meditation is how I center myself, and find peace and tranquility, to allow me to deal with whatever the day will bring.” She continued as Scorpia turned around to face the woman. Perfuma was tall, nearly as tall as Scorpia, with long, wavy blond hair, well-tanned skin, cute freckles, and the sweetest smile Scorpia had ever seen. “I would be happy to teach you, if you want.” She gestured upwards with one hand, and a large pink flower appeared out of nowhere tucked behind Scorpia’s ear. “Did you sleep well?”

Scorpia put one claw up to the flower, touching it gently, before realizing she’d been asked a question. “Oh! Yep. Slept wonderfully. Nicest yurt I’ve ever stayed in. Not that I’ve stayed in many, but I can definitely recommend the experience now.” she stammered.

They started at each other for a moment, Scorpia gingerly caressing the flower with her claw, before Perfuma spoke again. “I could lead you through some guided meditation sessions, if you want?”

“It’s not that that doesn’t sound like a wonderful experience, because it does, but I need to make a trip back to the Fright Zone.” Scorpia replied, looking to the side and shifting her claw to rub the back of her neck. “Just a short one. I left a few personal things in my quarters. I always meant to go back for them, but you know how it is. Other stuff just keeps happening and you never get around to it.”

“May ... may I come with you?” Perfuma asked, clasping her hands together. “I’ve been wanting to take a look at the new plant growth She-Ra summoned.”

“I would love to have you along.” Scorpia replied enthusiastically. She offered an arm for Perfuma to take. “Come on, we’ll take the Crawler. I left it parked out in that big meadow to the south.”

* * *

Perfuma walked arm in arm with Scorpia along the forest path leading to the clearing where the Crawler had landed. She could feel the dampness of the morning dew still on the grasses and undergrowth. Overhead, a family of jays called raucously. Warblers buzzed and trilled at each other, and a chickadee chirped an alarm call - more due to Scorpia than to her, she suspected.

She also was very aware of the warm, firm muscles in Scorpia’s upper arm, contrasting with the smooth carapace of her claw below. Scorpia happily chatted out loud as they talked, commenting on every new thing they saw. Which, for Scorpia, meant nearly everything in the forest. She still seemed to be coming to grips with the notion that there were so many different kinds of trees and thought that many of the birds she saw were some sort of duck, but was happy to listen when Perfuma corrected her.

“Oh, and it’s nice to be able to fly the Crawler again,” Scorpia said, changing the subject from birds. “Catra never liked it. She said it smelled funny and didn’t like the controls. Last time I took it out was ...” her face fell for a moment, and her voice became a bit more somber, “When Catra and I attacked the Princess Ball.”

Perfuma patted her on the arm. “It’s okay. I know you’re sorry for what you did back then. You’ve made up for it.”

They stepped out of the underbrush into the sudden sunlight of a large clearing. A vehicle completely at odds with the serene surroundings was parked before them. Black, with red and purple countershading, it bore a rough resemblance to a large mechanical scorpion. Sharp metal spikes jutted from the sides and back. Three pods along each side ended in downward-pointing jet nozzles. At the rear was an upraised protrusion roughly resembling a scorpion’s tail, and across the front a large clear windshield.

“This isn’t from the Horde?” Perfuma asked as they approached.

“Not at all! It’s an old piece of tech from my grandfather’s day.” Scorpia grabbed the door handle - large, and designed to be easily grasped by her claws - and swung the door open. “I found it years ago when I cleaned out my mothers’ stuff. I like it. It’s easier for me to fly than the Horde’s machines. Not much of the Horde technology was made for my claws.”

As Scorpia climbed in, Perfuma noticed with some display the crushed, flattened, and burnt plants around the vehicle. Wildflowers were uprooted and scattered across the clearing. The vehicle stank of soot and machine oil, and was dripping unburned fuel. She whined faintly, frowning at the sight.

“Come on in! Plenty of room in here for both of us.” Scorpia leaned out, then followed Perfuma’s eyes down to the damage. “Oh! I am so sorry about that. I tried to find a clear spot to touch down, but there’s just nowhere without plants around here.”

Perfuma clasped her hands together and inhaled deeply, despite the smell. “It’s okay. There’s not much damage, and I can fix this later.” She coughed slightly, then stepped up into the open door of the Crawler along with Scorpia. “I’ll have to have a landing platform built for your future visits. You will be visiting again, right?”

“I certainly hope so.” replied Scorpia, as Perfuma stepped inside the vehicle. The cockpit was spacious, designed to comfortably hold two people Scorpia’s size with room left over. Scorpia swung the door closed, then took the left-side seat and began working the controls. “Just sit yourself down, and I’ll get us there in no time”.

She flipped a few switches on the control panel. Rattling and whining sounds came from the sides of the vehicle, smoke and sputtering flame belching from the bottoms of the jet pods. “Ignition is a bit tricky on these old turbines, but once they warm up they’re just fine.” As she spoke, she carefully moved a large set of levers forward. The whining sounds increased in pitch, and the smoke dissipated as the turbine exhausts stabilized into clear jets of flame. The vehicle rocked back and forth for a moment, then lifted into the air.

“Why is it called the Crawler?” Perfuma asked, as she gripped the edge of the console and watched the forest drop away beneath them. “It doesn’t really crawl.”

“You know, I have wondered that myself.” Scorpia replied while pressing a few oversized buttons on the control panel. “It’s just always been called that, as far as I can tell. I had Entrapta take a look at it once, and she said the flight engines look newer than the rest of it. I think maybe the original version of it crawled, and then they replaced the tracks with jets, and everyone just kept calling it the same old name.”

She flipped a switch, the vehicle responding with a beep, then pressed one more button on the console with the tip of a claw. “Hang on!” she said to Perfuma. The engines tilted, aiming jet exhaust rearwards, and the Crawler accelerated forward, hurtling through the air towards the Fright Zone.

* * *

The forests of Plumeria rapidly fell behind as they flew over open grasslands, land which had once been desolate and lifeless before being transformed by the burst of magic that She-Ra had channeled out of the planet’s core. Magical energy which had been intended to power an ancient superweapon, that was instead channeled into a burst of creative, life-giving energy when Adora had activated the failsafe.

Or, at least, that’s what they had told Scorpia after the fact. She had only just been freed from Horde Prime's mind control, and distracted trying to save her new friends from his army when it all happened. It had been awfully pretty, she had to admit, the rainbow lights of the magical energy release even reaching up to Horde Prime’s command ship in orbit, transforming it into a giant tree, floating over what had once been the Fright Zone.

She was about to ask Perfuma what she thought of the strange space-tree, when the other woman spoke up first. “Can we land please?” Perfuma asked. “Something feels wrong.”

“No problem!” Scorpia disengaged the autopilot and began looking for a flat spot to set down. “You’re not airsick, are you? Kyle got airsick in here once. That was not fun to clean up.”

“Not wrong with me. Wrong with the plants below us.” Perfuma replied.

Scorpia brought the Crawler down on a flat spot of land surrounded by rolling hills, tossing up rocks and leaves in the jetwash. Scorpia carefully lowered the engine throttle, engaging the backup cooling systems and oil pumps as she did, knowing that a hasty engine shutdown could lock up the turbines. Once they had shut down properly, she got up and went to open the door, Perfuma anxiously pacing back and forth while she did.

They stepped out onto rough, rocky ground, softened by a layer of fresh vegetation. Scorpia turned and took in the surroundings, trying to place their location. “You know, I don’t recognize this place at all. We can’t be far from the Fright Zone, but nothing here looks familiar.” She stepped over to a vine-covered mound, pushed some leaves aside, and finally recognized the form of a broken-down Horde hover-truck. “Hey! This was one of the Horde’s ore carriers.” she exclaimed, then looked again at the surroundings. “Oh! I know where we are now. This is where we used to dump the metal slag from the smelters. Everything looks different when covered in trees.”

Perfuma stood up, holding a wilted leaf in her hand. She stepped over to Scorpa, and spoke while pointing at it. “This is a common Etherian nettle. It’s a bit oversized, She-Ra’s magic forced it far beyond the size it would normally grow.” It looked like an ordinary leaf to Scorpia. Perfuma ran a finger over the leaf, and Scorpia could see a mottling of yellow and black spots on the leaf. “And it’s already dying.”

Scorpia rubbed her chin with her claw, and replied, “Because it was grown with magic?”

Perfuma shook her head and smiled. “No. That’s never been a problem before.” She looked down at the ground, and nudged a chunk of broken slag with her foot. “They’re dying because of all the pollution in the ground. Heavy metals, dioxins, benzene, hexavalent chromium, who knows what else the Horde dumped here?” Scorpia hadn’t the faintest idea what any of those things were, but Perfuma said they were bad, so they probably were. Perfuma turned and gestured at the surroundings. “Many of these plants will die, and those that live will be too toxic to eat.”

It only then occurred to Scorpia that there was a complete absence of birdsong or other signs of animal life from the surroundings. The magically-grown forest was oddly silent compared to the noisy, life-filled woods of Plumeria. She shrugged and gestured at the plants. “Can’t you just fix them with magic? I’ve seen you grow entire forests out of nothing.”

Perfuma closed her eyes and concentrated, her palms open and facing the ground. A pink glow surrounded her, and spread out around the ground. Plants burst from the ground, wilted yellow leaves turning green and whole again. Flowers bloomed around them.

“Yeah! That’s it!” Scorpia laughed, then realized that the burst of life was limited to an area of a few dozen feet around her. Beyond that she could see the same sickly and dying plants that covered the entire area. “Or, a little bit of it, anyway.”

Perfuma shook her head sadly. “My powers aren’t strong enough to heal the entire Fright Zone.” Her hands balled into fists, and she looked at the ground again. “And even if I grew all the plants back, they’ll just die again.”

“Well, you did what you could.” Scorpia replied. “We should probably get going.”

Once back in the Crawler, they made rapid time towards the heart of the Fright Zone. Ahead lay the distinctive crater ringed by inward-leaning mountains, only partially obscured by recent plant growth.

Scorpia couldn’t help but notice that Perfuma’s mood was a bit less sunny than usual. The normally cheerful woman seemed downright somber after their stop in the slag field. Scorpia tried to think of a way to cheer up her new friend, but nothing came to mind. An unbidden thought rose for a moment that she was being a bad friend, but she ruthlessly squashed it. Think positively, she told herself. You are the _best_ friend.

“We should be almost there.” she said cheerfully, trying to lighten the mood. “I’ll just put us down near the barracks. It’ll be a short walk.” She looked down through the windshield at the completely unfamiliar ground. “Provided I can find the barracks. Those trees make it really hard to see where everything is. Oh, that looks like a flat enough spot over there. We can find our way better on foot.”

They touched down on an open flat plaza, one of the few spots bare of trees. Emerging from the vehicle, Scorpia tried to get her bearings in the rearranged Fright Zone. “Pretty sure it was that way” she said, uncertainly, pointing down an alleyway. They hadn’t made it more than a few steps before Scorpia saw a figure emerging from that same alleyway. “Get back!” she yelled at Perfuma, interposing herself in front of the other woman, stinger raised and at the ready. “It’s a Horde soldier!”

The soldier, wearing battered and worn Horde armor, approached them unsteadily, seeming more confused and tired than hostile. He dropped his stun baton, then removed his helmet, revealing a haggard and unshaven face. “Force Captain Scorpia?” the man asked wearily. “Is it really you? You actually came back?” He stared at the two princesses unbelievingly.

“Oh, right, I think I know this guy.” Scorpia replied, relaxing and lowering her tail. “Toby? No, Tony, right? You’re Tony?

The man nodded. “What happened? Where is everyone?” He placed his helmet down on the ground, then sat on a rock, still staring at Scorpia as if she’d come to make everything back the way it was. “We haven’t heard from anyone since ... this happened.” he gestured around them at the altered scenery, then up at the giant tree hanging high overhead. “No orders. None of the machinery works, and everything’s covered by trees!” he continued, pleadingly, eyes dashing between Scorpia and Perfuma.

“The war’s over, Tony. The Princesses won.” Scorpia stated matter-of-factly. “She-Ra destroyed Horde Prime with her own hands.” She patted him on the shoulder, as gently as she could manage with one claw. Tony still flinched at the contact. “You can go home now.”

“Home?” Tony glanced around the surrounding ruins. “Home? This is home.”

“That’s great!” Scorpia replied, smiling. “You’re already done with step one.”

“But .. what do I do now?” he replied, looking up at her.

Scorpia shrugged. “I can’t tell you that. I’m not a Force Captain anymore. Not my place to give you orders. You get to choose your own life now.”

The man looked utterly confused, as if the notion of choosing his own destiny was a baffling and alien thing. Perfuma stepped forward. “If I may?” she asked Scorpia. “Sure, go ahead!” the tall woman replied.

Perfuma stepped in front of the former Horde soldier, looking him in the eyes as she spoke. She smiled, clasping her hands together. “I know you are feeling lost now, but we can help you. There are a lot of people like you now, former members of the Horde who need guidance. We have set up a reeducation program in Plumeria, to help you adjust to your new lives and find a place in the post-Horde world. Make your way there, and the universe will give you a second chance.”

Tony nodded, still looking somewhat unbelieving.

“And please let any other soldiers still in the Fright Zone as well.” The man nodded again. “Sure. I’ll just go and do that.” he said numbly, and then turned to wander aimlessly off into the ruins.

“Wow. That is just so amazingly kind of you to do. You are just the nicest person.” Scorpia said to her as the two of them walked away from the former soldier.

“These people are as much victims of the Horde as anyone else.” Perfuma replied. “In a way, they’re no different than you are, and deserve just as much chance to redeem themselves.” She looked off in the direction that Tony had gone. “I hope he’ll be okay. We should give him a ride back to Plumeria when we leave.”

“Hmmm.” Scorpia muttered while looking at the surroundings. “I think I’ve figured out where we are. That looks like building 39b over there,” she said while pointing at a mound of rubble nearly completely covered in the roots of a giant tree, “So my barracks should be that way.” she continued, pointing in a completely different direction.

They walked through the ruins of the former Horde stronghold. While they saw no more former Horde soldiers, Scorpia could see signs of recent habitation. Recent campfires, signs of rubble cleared from doorways, and spots where tree branches or roots had been hacked away to allow passage. Eventually they made their way to another of the lumpy, gray-green buildings, Scorpia’s former barracks, where they ran into another problem. The entrance to the building was completely obstructed by a massive tree trunk growing out of the structure.

“Well, that’s inconvenient.” Scorpia muttered, looking at the solidly blocked entrance. She was pretty sure this was the only entrance to the building, unless you were small enough to fit through the air ducts, which she was not. She looked down at her claws for a moment, considering if she could cut through the tree or the wall beside it, then had an idea and looked over at Plumeria. “Do you think you can move it?”

Perfuma nodded and smiled, then concentrated and held out her hands. The massive tree trunk shifted, groaning against the metal frame of the doorway as it pushed to the side. The surrounding wall cracked and crumbled, the passage being forcibly widened to admit passage for someone of Scorpia’s bulk in addition to the tree. Scorpia smiled. “Yes! That is just so useful.”

She ducked through the opening, and proceeded into the hallway beyond. Fortunately, the hallway beyond was open and unobstructed, with few emergency lights flickering dimly, shedding just enough light for them to make their way along. Just down the corridor, Scorpia found the still-open door of the room she used to live in, and stepped inside. “Oh, I hope it’s still here. I don’t think I’d ever forgive myself if it’s broken.” Fortunately, the room appeared undisturbed, the tree blocking the entrance having prevented anyone else from coming in. The only change from how she left it was her good-bye note, now lying open on the floor, but that wasn’t why she was there.

The picture, the only one remaining of her mothers, was still undisturbed, sitting exactly where she had left it. She gently picked it up off the dresser as Perfuma entered the room behind her.

“Are those ... your parents?” Perfuma asked, looking at the portrait of the two women and the baby they held.

Scorpia nodded. “Yeah.”

Perfuma put a hand up Scorpia’s shoulder-plate, avoiding the spikes. “Are they ... gone?”

Scorpia nodded again. “Yeah. Loyal Horde soldiers till the end, both of them.”

Abruptly, Scorpia felt Perfuma flung her arms around her in a fierce hug. Her tail stiffened reflexively, and she immediately quashed the impulse to sting her friend. _Again_. “Huh, wow.” She shifted one arm to pat Perfuma on the back. “Usually I’m the one giving hugs like this.”

Perfuma didn’t respond at first, only crying against her shoulder. “Hey, hey, don’t cry. it’s all right.” Scorpia said as she put the picture back on the dresser, then turned and held Perfuma. “It was a long time ago. I’m okay with it. These things happen in war.”

Perfuma pulled herself away, wiping tears from her face. “I’m sorry. It’s not my place to grieve for your parents.” She sniffed and blinked through tears. “But ... You had a family. You had a kingdom. Now they’re all gone, and you have nothing.”

“Hey, I don’t have nothing! I have this picture. I have the Crawler. I’ve got Patchy here.” Scorpia said, picking up the stuffed scorpion toy from the dresser. She looked back and forth between it and the portrait for a moment, realizing it would be difficult to carry both, then handed the stuffed toy to Perfuma. “Actually, why don’t you hold her? Thanks. See, I also have all these great new friends now. Entrapta, Frostla, the other princesses I guess, and you, my new best friend.” A momentary look of panic came across her face. “Oh, no, is it okay if I say that? That we’re besties? Because I said that to Catra once, and she got mad at me and said we weren’t.”

“It’s okay”. Perfuma replied, hugging the plush scorpion toy. “We can be besties if you want.”

Scorpia relaxed. “That is such a relief. I have trouble telling sometimes, I think the Horde didn’t really teach us much about having friends.” She looked thoughtful for a moment. “Oh! I also have the Black Garnet. I mean, I guess it technically belongs to me now that I’m a princess. We should check on it. Can’t really bring it back with us, but I should make sure it’s still there.”

Perfuma nodded, then reached for the portrait. “May I?” she asked, and at Scorpia’s nod picked up the picture and looked more closely at it. “They’re beautiful. I can see in them your noble heart, and the kindness in your eyes.”

A sudden blush came to Scorpia’s face. Those weren’t things people often said about scorpions, or her in particular, and she felt a surge of awkwardness. “So, how about we head to the Black Garnet? I’ll lead the way.”

* * *

Perfuma followed Scorpia as she led the way through the ruins, holding the precious, irreplaceable framed picture, and the many times patched stuffed toy. Patchy had a faint odor of vinegar, a smell reminiscent of Scorpia herself, comforting and vastly preferable to the unpleasant chemical odors of the industrial wasteland they were traveling through.

Scorpia led her deeper into the heart of the Fright Zone, towards the center of the great crater. The buildings they passed by were of strange, alien material, bulging and veined with pipes and ductwork, buildings made from materials salvaged from Hordak’s crashed ship.

The lights and machines of the Horde were now dark and silent, and signs of the violence of the final battles were everywhere. No former Horde soldiers lingered in this area, none of them wanting to linger this close to the former center of Hordak’s power.

“This building was mostly under Shadow Weaver’s control.” Scorpia chatted while lifting a massive piece of rubble that blocked a walkway. She tossed it over a railing, the debris making a terrible crash as it smashed to the ground below. “I didn’t learn my way around until I started working with Catra. And then Shadow Weaver left, and Catra and I had the place to ourselves. Oh, and Entrapta too. She spent a lot of time with the Garnet.”

Perfuma nodded, remembering the result of Entrapta’s time spent with the Garnet. The Whispering Woods frozen, and the near loss of Brightmoon. She watched as Scorpia pried open a stuck door, and the two of them headed inside a building

“I don’t know, Maybe I should have tried bonding with it earlier?” Scorpia mused as they continued walking, their path marginally illuminated by dying emergency lights. “Gosh, I don’t know when there would have been time. Shadow Weaver would never allow it, and then Entrapta had dibs, and then we went to the Crimson Wastes and things got all ... messy.” she concluded.

“What matters is that you got there in the end, no matter how long it took.” Perfuma replied.

They emerged at last into a large circular chamber, dominated by a massive dark red crystal. Broken pieces of equipment and disconnected cables were strewn around the floor. The roof was torn open, exposing the sky. They both stared up at the stone, blinking in the sunlight.

“Yep.” Scorpia said. “That sure is my runestone.” She took a step forward, and reached out with one claw. A bolt of electricity arced between the outstretched tip of her claw and the stone. “Still works, too.”

Perfuma stepped up next to her, staring at the crystal spire. When near the Heart-Blossom, she felt the flow of energy through the runestone and the tree that it was embedded in, connecting her to all of the life of Plumeria and throughout Etheria. She wondered if Scorpia felt a similar connection from her runestone. What kind of connection would it even grant? Thunderstorms, and the weather, perhaps?

Scorpia shrugged. “Well, nothing else to do here. Runestone is still working. We should get you back to Plumeria.” She turned and headed back to the door they had come in through, Perfuma following behind as they made their way back through the ruins.

“Scorpia? What did it feel like, when you bonded with your runestone?” Perfuma asked.

Scorpia stopped in her steps for a moment, remembering. “I don’t actually know how to describe it. Like there was an energy there, or that was supposed to be there, but I never knew it was missing, and then it was there, and it just felt _right_.” She shrugged. “Felt natural. And it was such a relief, too. I didn’t think that I’d even be able to bond to it. I’m not really princess material.”

Perfuma frowned. “Of course you are. You’re royalty, for one thing, and you are bonded to a runestone. There are princesses which don’t have either of those qualifications.”

Scorpia looked puzzled. “Really? How does that even work? I thought all princesses had both.”

Perfuma shook her head. “You and I are elemental princesses, bonded to a runestone. But there are also princesses like Netossa and Spinnerella, who don’t have runestones, and then there’s Entrapta who doesn’t even have magic powers. And I’m not even technically royalty.”

“Wait-wait, I thought it always was the Queen’s daughter who got to bond with the runestone. You’re telling me that’s not the case?” Scorpia asked, as they resumed walking.

Perfuma smiled, and replied, walking after her. “Each kingdom has their own method for selecting a princess. In Brightmoon, it’s strictly inheritance-based. Glimmer was a princess because her mother was a Queen, and if Glimmer and Bow are blessed with a daughter, she’ll be their next princess. In Salinas, the position is a voluntary occupation. When Mermista retires, someone else will step forward to become the new princess in her place.”

“Uh-huh. So, how did you get to be a princess?” Scorpa asked, as they stepped out onto a rubble-strewn street leading out of the heart of the Fright Zone.

“In Plumeria, we let the Heart-Blossom itself choose. A ceremony is held, where all the young girls who want to apply gather around the sacred tree, and the runestone will choose who will become the new princess.” She clasped her hands together, smiling at the memory. “It was a wonderful, affirming day. I felt the blessing of the universe on me.”

Scorpia nodded. “So you don’t have a royal family in Plumeria?”

“We don’t believe in leadership by inheritance. The universe selects who should lead.” Perfuma replied. She smiled, and continued speaking. “It’s kind of funny, really. When I was born, my parents thought I was a boy, until I told them otherwise. They never expected they’d be raising a future princess. They were so proud of me when I was chosen.”

“Sure. Why wouldn’t they be.” Scorpia responded wistfully.

“Oh!” Perfuma’s eyes flew open wide as she lifted a hand to cover her mouth. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to bring it up. It must be awful for you, having nobody left.”

“Nah, it’s fine!” Scorpia replied, shaking off the sadness in an instant with a smile. “It all worked out fine in the end. War’s over, Horde Prime defeated, everyone’s happy, and I’ve got all these new friends!” she cheerfully said, while looking over and smiling at Perfuma.

Perfuma smiled back at her. “I’m sure your mothers would be proud of who you’ve become.” Despite her friend’s show of cheer, she knew the subject still bothered Scorpia.

Scorpia looked wistfully at the picture that Perfuma still held. “Yeah, I try to be the best scorpion I can be. Brave, loyal, great hugs. Plus, I’ve got these cool lightning powers now!” She aimed a claw upwards, and unleashed a bolt of red lightning. The bolt struck a crumbling spire of equipment, blasting it apart. Fragments of debris clattered to the ground. “Though I’m not sure what I’m going to do with them, with the war being over.”

“You can do anything you want to, Scorpia. You are a wonderful, loving, capable woman, and I believe in you.” Perfuma replied earnestly, placing a hand on Scorpia’s other claw.

“Aww. That’s so sweet of you to say.” Scorpia stared off into the distance. “I’m just not sure what that is. What I want to do.”

Perfuma pulled away and looked up at her. “If ... I may offer a suggestion?”

Scorpia nodded. “Sure!”

Perfuma closed her eyes and inhaled, steadying herself. She pondered what the universe wanted, and what would be best for her new friend, and then spoke. “Being bonded to a runestone is about more than powers. It implies a responsibility to protect, care, and defend. To care for the stone, for the land, for the people, and for Etheria. When I was chosen by the Heart-Blossom, I took on a responsibility to protect and care for the runestone, and the forests, and the people who lived there.” She opened her eyes and looked at Scorpia again. “If you want, and I’m not saying you have to, it’s entirely your choice, you could take care of the Fright Zone? Try and fix some of the damage that Hordak did?”

Scorpia turned, looking around at the crumbling ruins surrounding them. A few former Horde soldiers crouched in a doorway, watching them, trying to avoid drawing attention. “Yeah ... Yeah!” her face brightening as she considered the idea. “We can clean this whole place up. Fix up what buildings we can for people to live in, get rid of the rest. Give these poor Horde soldiers something to do again. Maybe even clean the pollution out of the ground, although I have to confess, I have _no idea_ how to do that.”

“I do.” Perfuma replied, quickly. “I dealt with something similar when the Horde tried to poison Plumeria, although on a much smaller scale.” She paced back and forth, counting on her fingers. “There are methods to break down some of the poisons in the soil, and others can be liberated through bioremediation. Some of the plants here are already starting to absorb and concentrate heavy metals, and we can encourage that process to continue and then remove the contaminated material. I wonder if Bow could help figure out a way to aerate the soil to promote toxin removal and breakdown, when he gets back? Maybe even inject oxidizers and catalytic agents into it? Oh, and we’ll need to demolish a lot of these structures and remove the rubble, but you’re more than capable there, especially if we get the former Horde soldiers to help. I can talk to Queen Glimmer and see if she has any advice on logistics.” 

She turned back to Scorpia. “If it’s okay with you? This is your project, and your home.”

“I have no idea what most of what you just said meant, but it sounds good to me!” She stepped forward, and grabbed Perfuma in a crushing hug. “This is going to be great! Scorpion Kingdom Reborn! New Scorpitopia! Not-the-Fright-Zone! I don’t know what we’re going to call it, but we’re going to do this. Together.”

* * *

Headcanon notes for this chapter

  1. The flying scorpion-tank vehicle is the one that Scorpia was flying in “Princess Prom”. This vehicle is an oddity, as it’s never been seen in any other episode and doesn’t look like standard Horde technology. This type of vehicle is notably absent in “Battle of Brightmoon” just a few episodes later. It is also obviously scorpion-themed, as if it was built specifically for Scorpia, but we have been shown that the Horde is generally not interested in building technology specifically for her. I am instead assuming that it was built by her ancestors, and may date back to before the Horde arrived, though possibly having been updated with more modern technology since then. The name of the vehicle is never given in the modern show, but in the original She-Ra show Scorpia had a custom personal scorpion-tank called the Crawler. I’m using the same name, and assuming the jets were added as an upgrade sometime after the vehicle was originally named.
  2. My Perfuma is possibly a bit more of a chemistry nerd than the canon one is.
  3. You couple possibly assume that the giant magical flare that covered all of the Fright Zone in plants also cleared out all the pollution, and that might even have been the intent in canon. I don’t intend to let them off quite that easily in my story.
  4. It might be a bit surprising that there are still living Horde soldiers hanging around in the Fright Zone, with Hordak’s soldiers having been displaced by Horde Prime and his clones, but we’re actually shown a scene of people in Horde uniforms standing around looking baffled at how everything’s covered by trees now in the final episode. So, there’s your (former) Horde soldier Tony.
  5. We’re never told exactly how all the Princesses are chosen, other than Glimmer inheriting the job from her mother, and Mermista becoming the Princess when the previous one ‘retired’. Plumeria really doesn’t strike me as the kind of place to have a hierarchical monarchy, so having the Heart-Blossom itself choose who bonds to it strikes me as more theirstyle.
  6. Perfuma being trans is a widespread fanon in the fan community, and was apparently the intent behind her character design even though it was never mentioned in the show. It also is going to almost completely not matter to this story beyond the one line here.



**Author's Note:**

> This story was written because nobody else had written it yet. My apologies if it's a bit rough, none of my usual beta-readers have finished Season 5 yet.


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